Social Content vs SEO in the news again

Last week, I shared an article from forbes.com talking about the Death of SEO and the rise of real content and yet again, the same topic has appeared in other mainstream press. It’s exciting to see such large media outlets talking about the need for real, socially engaging content, as this is the very premise why I started ProBlogForce over a year ago. Although I do worry as sometimes – since we’re in rather new territory – information can unintentionally be a bit misleading to end readers. Given this post was written by what appears to be content marketer and not a search specialist, I want to make the following points based on my search engine strategy.

I will stress that her outlining goal (at least I think it is) is true. Content Marketing strategy, combined with a social forward approach, will help power the future of search engine strategy. The following is where I begin to see discrepancies in Ms. Fielding approach:

“This means that a brand can no longer rely on a well-optimized website to earn Google’s attention. A brand must be a conversationalist, going where the people are and engaging them in discussion, and by doing that earn a wonderful reputation.”

In the future, brand will completely need to rely on optimized content to get Google’s attention. Again – from the words of Matt Cutts – SEO is not necessarily about link building but optimizing your site so search engines can better read your content. Therefore, optimizing content was – still is – and will always be, is the founding principle of search engine strategy. If Google can not read your website’s content, then the need for a conversationalist discussion is not even necessary! Unless you are purely relying on users of social networks to take your post viral. — Quite the long shot.

I do agree with Ms. Fielding regarding “the a need is to not only publish content but also plan for a social sharing strategy” is key to building visibility for your brand’s website and or blog post. Although, again, this is not anything new in the world of SEO. In fact this is basically what link building was and will continue to be. Except Google has added another layer with their Google+ network. Something the search engine company see value in forcing its users to engage in their social network.

My final thought on Mr. Fielding’s article is actually more in the sense of journalism. With publications increasingly utilizing online channels to publish the world’s news, the idea of applying the “conversationalist principles” to news content can be a bit worrisome. Not all web content should be created just for the idea that it’s conversational. This leads to the age-old, slippery slope of what we call yellow journalism. Although, we’re probably already there in many ways…